More Info →Page 79 - Levin 75th Jubilee Supplement

Description

The early Temperance Hotel opposite The Chronicle in Oxford Street. Not always so temperate, recalls one historian.

In about 1904 W. H. Wilson oc­cupied the south portion as a bakery shop. He baked at the rear of the' Arcadia Private Hotel.

About 1910 Doughy Wil­liams took over the shop and bakery. In 1913 he built his own bakery at the rear of the shop, over the lane. It was constructed on what is the northwest corner of Smith and Browns.

Williams gradually ex­tended into tea rooms, cater­ing and a milkbar. He also ran dining rooms upstairs in Shaw's building at one stage. About 1940 he took over Fred Pink's shop. In later years the manager was Bill Jacob.

During World War Two the firm was prosecuted under the rationing laws for putting too much cream in their ice cream!

In 1947 Woolworths bought A. L. Williams prop­erty; demolishing the two - storey wooden building. Woolworths moved into the new premises from the old MacDuffs shop, probably in 1948.

FRED PINK

Fred Pink, who operated the footwear business taken over by Williams, was an in­stitution in Levin. He started in the 1890s.

Where Oscar Edwards - Footwear and Ray Harrison's hairdressing salon are,_.was once known as Garland's Building: Mr Garland was the licensee of the Levin Hotel from the 1890s up to 1900. It is feasible to think that he built this building before 1900 as he built the Town Hall in Queen Street in 1896.

At that time Garland's building would have been on hotel land.

Jhing Lee was a well - known fruiterer and green­grocer in the south shop be­fore 1920 into the 20s. In the 1930s Reg Wilkinson ran a cycle shop there.

The site of Ray Harrison's Salon was the origin of the chemist business leading to Berry's Pharmacy in the Mall. H. Levy had the shop as a chemist about, it is thought, 1900. Then F. C. Remington bought the business in 1907, operating it until 1910 when Hugh Hall is thought to have started as a barber.

He continued for some years; with Bill Crystal follow­ing as proprietor until 1923 when Skipper Wilkinson took over. His son Cliff bought the business from him in 1948. Ray Harrison has operated the business since 1970.

TOWN HALL

The first Town Hall is said to have stood where Howard's Hardware is now. It was burnt down in 1896, to­gether with several shops. This is confirmed by Russell Howard, who told me that he had to crawl through a bed of charcoal when he replied the building.

Mr Gapper in 1900 opened a grocery, apparently in a building erected on the burnt­ out site. He traded at least until 1904.

A later occupant was Wally Hume with a billiard saloon - cum - bookie shop. Frank Howard opened his hardware shop about 1933, starting the Howard dynasty. Son Russell took over in 1947 with Joe Bleakly as partner. Joe re­tired in 1962 and Russell car­ried on alone until 1975 when grandson Ray took over.

Where Howard's Shrub Arcade is now was an exten­sion of the Levin Hotel, bulk about 1902 for Dan Harman.

A narrow alleyway ex­isted between the two sec­tions of the hotel. Later a second storey was added to the extension for staff accommodation. The ground floor was used as kitchen and dining facilities.

PHARMACY

Two shops were later built on the frontage. A Mr Day is said to have started a pharmacy at least after 1902 in the north shop. This started a succession of pharmacies, through to Mr Nockels. Apparently a Mr Southwicke bought it later as C. S. Keedwell bought it in 1909, until about 1913.

Later in the 1920s Mr Shalata, a Hindu, also known as Bill Shires, ran a greengrocery and fruiterers here. Then about 1930 Jim Webb Snr opened his hairdressing salon. A barber's shave was 3 pence and a man's haircut one shilling. In 1966 the price of a haircut had only risen to 4/6. Son Barry took over about 1947, giv­ing up the business in 1966.

The window ledge of this shop was a favourite perch for drunks from the hotel. Spikes were set into it to stop them sitting down.

Sometime during the Webb period C. B. Bates had a tailor's shop in the South shop. Laurie Moffat had a real estate agency from 1963, with Roger Parker following on in 1973. In 1976, when the shop was demolished, he shifted to the corner shop and was bought out by Premier Properties in 1978.

Variety Bag occupied Webb’s old shop up until the building was de­molished. This business now operates in the south­ernmost of the New Levin Hotel shops.

The main part of the original Levin Hotel was built in 1889 for Charles and Fred Roe. They recalled that people considered them mad to open a hotel on a site totally surrounded by bush.

In 1891 the hotel was sold to Mr McCormack. Dan Harman bought it from T. G. Garland in 1900. The Harman family owned the hotel until 1941 but did not hold the licence all of the time.

The original section, 1889, stretched from the north quarter of Woolworths to Queen Street, bounded by Oxford Street and Chamberlain Street. Sections were sold off over the years, some with shops already built on them.

MR WARD

Ernie Ward bought the hotel in 1941 from the Harman family. At that time, the entrance to the public bar was on the corner and the main entr­ance from Oxford Street. A verandah ran along the second storey on the Ox­ford Street frontage. Spec­tators must have seen many stirring sights from this verandah as the inter­section was the venue for many ceremonies.

In 1958 Ernie Ward built new bar facilities in the hotel yard, facing Queen Street. He had a horse­shoe - shaped public bar where the present lounge bar is down to the current pool tables. This bar was later converted to a lounge bar, and more recently the back half equipped with pool tables and the present public bar built.

The main part of the old hotel was demolished in 1958, and the rest of the New Levin Hotel built. After Ernie Ward died the hotel was leased to various licensees, until the family formed Western Hotels Ltd with son Henry as man­ager.

Ultimately the hotel was sold to D.B. Breweries although it is still listed under Western Hotels. The licensees at time of writing are Jan and Jon Jervis.

TRAVELLING along the south side of Queen Street, the next busi­ness is Wardell's Supermarket. Self Help Supermarket shifted from Oxford Street into their new building in 1968.

The name was changed to Wardell Self Help in 1975, and later to Wardell's only.

The owner from 1977 has been Stuart Irons of Foxton. The building itself is still owned by the Sutherland Trust. Mr Sutherland founded the Self Help chain of super­markets. The manager for more than 15 years has been Robin Heyworth. The neighbouring building is the former Bank of N.Z., built in 1902 and the first bank in Levin. For several years prior to 1897 the bank had an agency across the road in a build­ing where the saddlery business is now. The branch moved to Oxford 'Street in 1954.

Later Gordon Sorenson shifted his accountancy business and the TAB into the building.

Mr Sorenson built the present TAB next to the bank building in 1983. The present agent is Robin Cochrane.

The old bank building is now occupied by Messrs Todd, Whitehouse, Com­ber and Mackay - arris­ters and Solicitors.

Next was the Town Hall, built in 1896 by Mr Garland on, what was then appar­ently hotel land. When it was demolished in 1942 it must have still been in the hotel ownership, a Bill Harman built his house in Sands Road with materials from the hall.

When the De Luxe Hall (later the Regent Hall and now the Engineer's De­partment in the Municipal building) was built in 1926, the Queen Street structure became known as the Old Town Hall.

The Palmerston North Hospital Board built dis­trict nurses' rooms and a flat soon after the hall was demolished. The district nursing service vacated the building about 1974; moving to Horowhenua Hospital. The building is now tenanted by the medical practice of Doctors B. H. Rose, D. R. Ramya - Siri and A. Munasignhe, Jack Allen's office and the taxi office.

STABLES

Across Chamberlain Street, Jack Smith had a livery stables and, a coach service on the corner, probably about 1900 - 1910. Later, about the 1920s, Mr Newman oper­ated a truck and bus ser­vice from there. Appar­ently the old buildings went sometime after this.

The Memorial Hall was built in1956 with funds raised by the RSA and is borough property.

About half way between Chamberlain Street and Salisbury Street, on, the south side, stood Levin's first school: One room was built in 1890, and another two rooms added later.

After the present Levin School was built in 1903, the old school was shifted to Koputaroa.

Continuing west, the Levin Park Domain was designated as a recreation reserve in 1889. It has been vested inn the local authority since.

On the Queen Street side of the playing field and cycle track stood a small grandstand. I think this existed when the celebrations were held for the end of World War 1 in 1918, which I remember. Presumably the old stand was demolished soon after the new complex was built in 1969 on Bath Street.

Returning to the main intersection the northwest corner occupied by Car­pet Co (formerly Furniture Services) was a shop probably in the late 1890s.

A Mr Fenton and a Mr Jones ran stationery businesses here at differ­ent times. In one photo a sign is fixed above the shop, advertising Bouttell's pictures at the nearby Century Hall, probably 1905 - 1912. This shop was apparently de­molished about 1915.

About 1929 Mr Morten­son built a row of shops from this corner site north to the present site of Wright and Sutherland's shop. Mr Mortenson used ^.the corner building for a car sales business for a few years.

After the 1931 earthquake Mr Mortenson opened his shop as what would now be termed a "drop - in centre" for re­fugees on their way to Wel­lington. He provided refreshments and rest facilities.

Jack Clark later bought all the premises built by Mr Mortenson. They still be­long to a member of his family. Mr Clark was the proprietor of a furnishing business on the corner for some years.

Since then there has been a succession of simi­lar businesses, including Montgomery's which existed in 1958), Belmont's, Fabre's, Farmer's and Lamble's.

The sections now oc­cupied by Typewriter Ser­vices and Jones Real Estate were the, site of L. A. Bowen's jewellery and watchmaking shop, later occupied, by Hugh Hall as a barber until 1910. Mr Bowen was a brother of Emma Bowen.

Bill Clark tells a story of his visits to the barber here when he was five years old (1901). He was seated on a small box which was used to raise small children to a conve­nient height in the barber's chair. This box is still in use in Harrison's Hairdressing Salon.

Square Deal Mullan had a land agency in the build­ing later.

POST OFFICE

In 1892 the settlers, tired of walking the long dis­tance through the bush on the sawmill trolley line to Bartholomew's mill, asked for a post office in the township. Until then the mill's book keeper, Fred Roe, acted as unpaid postmaster at his office in the mill near the present Roslyn Road rail crossing.

On Mr Roe's advice, the Government appointed Mr R. Kent, who had just built a store about the present site of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board, Postmaster in 1892. Mr Kent sold his business to Mrs M. A. Bowen in 1894, and she became the Postmistress.

Her daughter, Harriet Emma Bowen, helped in the combined general store and post office. In 1896 Miss Bowen was ap­pointed pointed Postmistress, continuing in this position until 1909, six years after the present Post Office was built.

She subsequently moved away from Levin, returning later to take up the position of Postmistress at Weraroa. She was also Levin's first woman councillor.

The site of Alan McNair's saddlery shop was the Bank of New Zealand's agency in 1894. This was the first banking facility in Levin. In 1922-23 Charles­ Saxon had a tyre retreading business in this build­ing. The wooden structure was later demolished and, in 1926-27, a new building erected for Messrs Charles Blenkhorn, Jim Todd and Dave Todd.

In my memory, from about 1920, there was bare land from Wrightson's to the Oxford Street corner and also around on the west side of Oxford Street to the old fire station and county / borough offices. Circuses pitched their tents on this land on the corner.

The Horowhenua Elec­tric Power Board's building was erected. In 1950 the building that Wrightson N.M.A. Ltd. occupy was built for Abraham and Wil­liams in 1906. Wright Stephenson later took over the firm, but continued trad­ing under the old name until 1970. The present manager is Graeme McFarland.

BANK

Across, Bristol Street, on ­the Contact House corner, was the original Bank of

Australasia built in 1903. This bank merged with the Union Bank of Australia in 1951, forming the Australia and New Zealand bank.

Two branches were maintained in the old banks' offices until 1956 when new A.N.Z. premises were built in Oxford Street.

The Queen Street build­ing was occupied by the Social Welfare Depart­ment, which had been up­stairs in the old Parker & Vincent building for the next 20 years. While the Public Trust's modern complex was under con­struction on the Bath, Ox­ford Street Intersection, the Public Trust re-occupied the old bank building for a period in 1976.

Since 1979 the Contact House committee has leased the building from Lockie Stewart. Organisa­tions using it include the Citizens' Advice. Bureau drop-in centre, the Y.M.C.A., Levin Spinners and Weavers, and the Learning Exchange.

The legal firm of Park, Bertram, Cullinane and Partners moved into the modern, two-storey build­ing from their old building next door in 1973. After a merger in 1976 with the old established firm, then known as Harper, Thompson and Steele, and vari­ous other changes of part­ners, the firm is now known as Cullinane, Turnbull, Steele and Partners.

Next west was the older premises of the legal firm. Then known as Park, Bartram and Cullinane, they moved into the then new building in 1951 from Ox­ford Street. This building is now the offices of Robin Barrie's accountancy firm of Gordon Sorenson and Co.

The Levin fire brigade moved to the present sta­tion after it was built in 1921 to replace the small station in Oxford Street north. In 1962 a house on the west side was removed for ex­tensions. The original sta­tion was also remodelled then.

Click here to go to the next page of Corrie's recollections of the History of Levin's Commercial Area.

Identification

Date

March 1981